This invention relates in general to a seat track for mounting a seat to a foundation for relative movement therewith. In particular, this invention relates to a relatively moveable seat track having an improved stiffness characteristic and a reduced material thickness.
Seats are provided to carry occupants. The seats may also be equipped with moveable mounting points that accommodate fore and aft movement of the seat, in part, to provide increased seating comfort for the occupant. For example, vehicles are known to be provided with moveable seats for positioning the occupant within comfortable reach of the controls. The moveable mounting points are typically a pair of elongated members, such as rails, that cooperate to form a seat track. One rail of the seat track is mounted to a foundation, floor, or stationary structure relative to the seat. The other rail of the seat track is mounted to a portion of the seat. Slides may be provided to ease movement effort of the seat. The slides may consist of bearings, bushings, or other friction reducing elements.
In certain instances, the moveable and stationary rails of the seat track may be subjected to bending loads or other forces that may cause the rails to deflect or separate. In order to prevent seat track separation, it is known to capture the slide mechanism of the seat track between two overlapping flanges formed in the moveable and stationary rails of the track, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,845,956 to Rohee. Alternatively, cooperating and overlapping sections, known in the art as “J-hook” sections, are employed to prevent seat track separation, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,253 to Garrido and U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,412 to Liu, et al. These structures provide adequate retention of the rails of the seat track.
It would, however, be desirable to reduce the weight and cost of these seat track mechanisms. It would further be desirable provide a seat track mechanism having improved stiffness and retention capabilities that employ rails having reduced material utilization.